Update 7th Feb 2009:
The saga is over! Microsoft have now given us the option to remove credit card details through Xbox.com. See Remove Your Credit Card Details from Xbox Live – ONLINE! for details.
So 30 days have now passed since I was called by Xbox support. Have they removed my card details as they promised? Err, no they haven’t.
To be honest I didn’t expect them to have either. Maybe they had their hands full dealing with the rather shoddy provision of Xbox Live since Xmas and forgot about my support call?
It has now been 53 days since I first asked Xbox Live support to remove my credit card details. I’m now wondering if they actually are able to remove my card details? At this rate the card will have expired. Very, very poor service Microsoft.
Check out part I and part II of this ongoing saga.
Update 26th Mar 08: They’ve been removed. I can’t believe it. Microsoft have FINALLY done what I asked them to do over 3 and a half months ago. When I examine my LIVE account on my 360 there are no card details at all! Upon reviewing my LIVE account at http:\\billing.microsoft.com my card details have been flagged as removed (only there for historical purposes) and can’t be used or viewed. About bloody time Microsoft.
Our advice, remove your card details and buy pre-paid cards instead:
- Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Membership plus 1 free month!!!
- Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Membership Card
- Xbox Live 3 Month Gold Membership Card
- Xbox Live 4200 Points Card
- Xbox Live 2100 Points Card
January 29th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I’d check your legal rights in this case with the citizens advice bureau. I’m pretty sure there’ll be some consumer protection law with regard to finance and keeping details when you have requested (repeatedly) to have them removed from IT systems.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:44 pm
well im in the same boat here, rang up on 6th jan was told that card will be removed in 10 to 15 days a message will appear on my xboxlive dashboard confirming this, i called back again today (on phone as im typing) to get card removed was informed that the Credit card will not be removed as long as the xboxlive account was active and i would have to ring back nearer the time the 12month live subscription has finished, then i would have to wait 30 days for it to be removed, i said WTF?”?!?! it takes 30 days to remove a 16 digit number?? thats just over 1 a day…. not impressed at all. let me know if u get sorted out
February 15th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
If the card is still on your xbox 360 that means tech support hasn’t been able to get in contact with you. They call you back after the 30 day period to begin the process. Then they tell you that it should be removed in 10 days. They call you back after the 10 days to get a confirmation if it has been removed from your console.
I just went through the same thing. 40 days and the card was still on the xbox 360, so I called them up to ask about it. They told me that after the initial 30 days they tried calling me but were not able to get in contact with me and are ready to move onto the next step of the process. So just call them back and ask about it.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Thanks for the information Majora64plus. It seems that Microsoft is incapable of providing an acceptable level of service when you want to remove your card details.
Tech support has simply not contacted me. I know because they only have my mobile phone number. In any case, this is pathetic. 40 days to remove your card and 76 days and counting for me.
I’m going to discuss this with the citizens advice bureau (as suggested by Mr Butterscotch) as this has gone on long enough.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
My method was to phone my credit card company and report my card as “stolen by Microsoft”… It now nolonger workes on the console. I’ve reported this to the uk tv show watchdog…
I still want it removed since now it’s on there and invalid… 25 days and counting. I’ll never trust them with my cc details again.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Jamie> Good idea I’m going to contact Watchdog as well. I’ll also post the advice that I get from the citizens advice bureau.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 am
To be honest, I wouldn’t pay that part of your bill. Just refuse to pay it. If Microsoft tries to take you to petty court for it, I’ll be surprised as hell.
Plus, you’d win without even having a lawyer.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I too am currently in the same position. Requested removal on 25th December, 3 request over the 30 day periods, still not removed. I have a thread going on the main Xbox live website about this called “Microsoft’s Credit Card Scam?” No one from Microsoft as yet commented or posted anything. I’ll keep an eye in here now I’ve found this to see how your going…
Good luck (you need it)!!!
April 8th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i want to use my debit card to buy microsoft point but because ive already added a credit card it wont let me add my debit card why nott???
July 25th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Requested removal today and was told it would be 30 days to remove my credit card info from my sons x-box…..and if I want to order anything else….like a months subscribtion….I need to buy the cards from the store. Does this make sense to anyone?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hey unhappy mom,
Yes, unfortunately, it seems that they don’t have a way to physically remove your card. They have to do blacklist your credit card instead. This shouldn’t affect your credit rating (but I am not a lawyer).
As it’s still recorded but blacklisted, they’ll refuse any payment requests, which is why they’re asking you to buy your future Microsoft points in stores, instead.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Im so gald i found this post it seems like microsoft hide their cancellation details on purpose!!!.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:38 am
i changed my credit card details but the fukers still charged my card…Microsoft is a bunch of crooks!!
best idea is to cancel the credit card or report it stolen
September 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I have read comments on this page and decided to go straight to the source to get my card details removed from my son’s XBOX Live Account – the card company are cancelling the card and sending me one with a different number.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Hey,
Well I am now blessed with travelling down this notorious road of Microsoft fuckery. I thought it would be very simple to remove credit card details from my Xbox live account as it is for say Amazon.co.uk or (insert any other company that deals with transactions) but oh no, that wouldn’t be keeping in with Microsoft’s greed policy would it.
I officialy cancelled my credit card a while ago but still am having some issues with it because small transactions are occurring on it occasionally. The auto renewal of Xbox live is very annoying too and as mentioned in this blog, is a transaction that I haven’t authorised. I guess I’ll have to see if my “closed” credit card will suddenly have a bill for £40 at the end of the month.
So the general consensus is Microsoft’s disallowance to implement the most basic core “feature” in modern e-commence / account management is a complete pain in the ass, but I somehow doubt they even care.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
This is exactly what I need to do. I had my account hacked on Sunday afternoon and I was charged $247 on my Visa for MS points, I just hope it doesn’t take me three months to get it sorted out because it’s not my credit card, it’s my parents. I’m just glad they didn’t use all of the points so I am hoping I can get some sort of refund, even if they take away all of the things they bought i’d be happy as I don’t really want to see $82 (5000 MS Points – this is the amount that they used out of the 15,000 points purchased) go down the drain. Here’s hoping MS are kind to me!
November 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I just stumbled upon this blog when I was attempting to remove some CC info from my account…
I was able to go from “random credit card” to “random credit card (removed)” pretty easily as long as you keep one card on the account (I needed to get my friends’ cards off there, and one of my old debit cards). Well, not intuitively, but quickly and fairly painlessly?
-From billing.microsoft.com main billing page (the one listing your info) click a card, it should bring up a balance & fees page.
-Click “go to payment method information”
-Click “use a different payment method”
-Select one of your other cards.
-Click next
Realistically, this wouldn’t have helped to just get one card removed, but if you have like seven sets of info in there and you’re annoyed that whenever you drunkenly buy new Rock Band 2 DLC, you accidentally charge your old college buddy because his credit card was at the top of the list…
Cheers
November 15th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I just got off the phone from microsoft, it took an hour and 45 min to get my account canceled, and wow i am pissed. It took a total of 4 calls, and a lot of talking, because jesus, i dont see why i cant just stop the payments frin MY credit card, when its MY money, but nope….i have to call for almost 2 hours and waste my time.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I've just got off the phone to remove my credit card details. They have to escalate it to a supervisor who will call you back because, and I quote "they have the tools required to do the job".
In this day and age it can only be deliberate, so I'm writing to Watchdog and Trading Standards and my credit card company.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Sounds like a nightmare! I wanted to remove one card but I don't think I'll bother until this issue is a bit further along! MS sucks!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
do u no wat i think?
i think that microsoft will take money out of your credit card once you put it in.
That's why i'm scared of registering for xbox live.
Can somebody help me!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
omg I can't believe this is happening to others too. I am so pissed. I've called and cancelled atleast 3 times. It gets removed and then my 13 year old can still click on it to charge monthly. Once it is in the stystem forget it, it is there for good. I guess I'll have to call cc company and cancel card and get new account #. We should all file a law suit!!!! Woo Hoo!!!
January 27th, 2009 at 5:30 am
My 12 month subscription ended in december. They automatically tried to run my card for the next 12 months at 49.95. That card was no longer good, so it obviously didn't process. They have since suspended my live account and so I called the famous "tech support" got the office somewhere in france I believe. I can barely understand this woman's broken-english, and I tell her that I do not wish to run that card, but that I went to walmart and bought a 12 month subscription and wish to activate my account with it. (after it didn't work by putting it into the console).
January 27th, 2009 at 5:30 am
She told me that I must settle the balance due of 49.95 with a credit card, then she could re-instate my live account. I told her there was not a balance due since I have not the service, and instead of using my card, I just bought a damn 12 month subscription, so take the F'n code and turn my shit on. She wouldn't budge. I tried nice, friendly, then progressed to Irate Dickhead and still no budge. She kept on saying that she understood and that I could pay the 49.95, then she could refund it, and then she could take the code from the prepaid subscription to activate my account. These people not only control a monopoly, but are God damn Thieves. So here I sit with my thumb up my ass, out 49.95 cash for a code that they won't let me use, and no live account to boot.
January 27th, 2009 at 5:34 am
So what can I do? I have 2 choices, call and cancel it, and forget about it. Or, I can suck it up and give them my new card information(which I was trying to avoid), and let them bill me for another 49.95 and then just add the subscription on and not have to mess with it for 2 years. Customer appreciation and customer service are two terms that mean dick to microsoft. These companies don't care about the consumer anymore. It's all about the money and if you're not happy, they couldn't give a shit less. They've got you by the balls if you want to use their services. Yes, it's wrong, but what can you do about it?
January 28th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
HOW CAN I GET MY CARD DETAILS OFF MY SONS X BOX Account I only wanted to pay a one off payment to get him started christmas 2007 that was fine until sudenly ..payment taked Aug 08 I have phoned and phoned and phoned !! trying to get my card details removed from this account … My son is now using and has registered his own card !! but every couple of months !!!! (Oct Dec)THEY USE MY CARD FOR PAYMENT ! with no authorisation !! .. NOW WE KNOW HOW TO BE A MILLIONAIRE !!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Solved it! Made the same mistake as everyone else, subscribed for 12 months for my son and couldn't delete the card details. Called Xbox customer support (0800 587 11 02) and registered the complaint, was called back the next day. At first they gave me the standard choice: (a) cancel subscription, or (b) turn off the auto-renewal and in 12 months the card details are deleted (yeah, right). I insisted on something better, and the lady dealing with me put me on hold for a couple of minutes and then came back with a perfectly acceptable solution: (1) cancel subscription to delete the card details, and (2) send me a pre-paid card code for the same value as the cancelled subscription that I can use to renew the subscription and get it going again. This is the option they should offer everybody in the first place!!
February 11th, 2010 at 8:46 am
OMG really!!? all my friendsare gonna be so mad a microsoft. I’m using my mums partners card and they won’t be happy 30 DAYS!!!! microsoft pull your shit together!!!!!!
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Oh man, this was hillarious. I read your saga and phoned them up to delete my xbox account. Whilst on hold I removed the credit card details myself on the website. When the customer service representative answered the phone he asked me for my gamertag. Then he asked me, to confirm my identity, whether I had registered a credit card on my xbox account. I told him the truth. He then asked me to confirm the last 4 digits of my credit card. I told him and he repeated them back to me and told me he had confirmed my identity. After asking me why I wanted to close my account he told me that it was impossible to delete my account but to rest assured my credit card details were no longer on the system. I LOL’d at the man and put it to him that he wasn’t telling me the complete truth because he just used the same credit card details that he alleged had been removed from their system to confirm my identity. He seemed perplexed that I realised his obvious lie.
And to the person who suggested going to citizens advice, I’m guessing you’re in the UK too. It wasn’t that long ago I heard on the news how all websites based in the UK now have to keep any identifiable details about you for a minimum term of 3, 5, 6, maybe more years to comply with any laws. Consumer rights have evaporated in this country.
I didn’t even use the credit card to purchase anything, I only registered it so I could try to get my original (first gen) xbox console to sign in to xbox live. Today I found out that xbox live is going to be officially terminated for all original (first gen) xbox games (e.g. halo 2) even when played on the xbox360 from the 15th April. Hail almighty Microsoft for advertising in 2 months there will be no risk modding your original xbox.